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Food resource partitioning of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus (L.) and three‐spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L., in the littoral zone of lake Takvatn in northern Norway
Author(s) -
Jørgensen L.,
Klemetsen A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
ecology of freshwater fish
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1600-0633
pISSN - 0906-6691
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0633.1995.tb00120.x
Subject(s) - gasterosteus , salvelinus , stickleback , arctic , limnetic zone , biology , benthic zone , littoral zone , three spined stickleback , ecology , pelagic zone , profundal zone , benthos , trophic level , zooplankton , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , trout
The food resource partitioning of Arctic charr ( Salvelinus alpinus L.) and three‐spined stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) were investigated in the littoral zone of lake Takvatn in northern Norway in the ice‐free period June–November. Charr and sticklebacks had different feeding habits. Sticklebacks ate several small benthic prey items that were never eaten by charr, and the sticklebacks' diet were dominated by the benthic microcrustaceans Chydoridae and Ostracoda, chironomid larvae and stickleback eggs. Small charr (<17 cm) consumed a wide spectrum of chironomid pupae, terrestrial insects and zooplankton. Intermediate (17–20 cm) and small charr had quite similar feeding habits, while large charr (>20 cm) frequently ate both benthos, pelagic and terrestrial food. The diet overlap between small charr and sticklebacks was never larger than 0.6 (Schoener's index). The segregation in feeding habits indicates that small charr and sticklebacks are segregated in microhabitat when they are both in the littoral zone.